Phil Taylor, Defensive Tackle of the Cleveland Browns recently completed his summer football camps in both Ohio and the Washington, DC area. The former first round pick is making a tremendous impact with his TaylorMade Foundation and these football camps.
With the help of high school coaches, Taylor’s football camps give students a legitimate glance of what to expect as they move forward with their football journeys. The camps are super informative and they truly fill each kid with a wealth of knowledge.
Pro Player Insiders had an opportunity to catch up with Phil Taylor at his camp in Waldorf, Md — not far from Gwynn Park High School (Brandywine, MD) where he graduated class of 2006. Taylor says his goal is to help the students by getting them ready for their next level of football. “Getting them ready for high school/middle school or if they’re playing peewee/pop warner,” Phil Taylor said of his goals with the camp. “The drills that they’re doing are mostly from the high school teams and high school positions. The little kids learning these drills now — by the time they get ready to really play football in high school or older, they’ll already know the drills.”
Phil Taylor grew up in a dual parent home in Clinton, MD. The general area where Taylor developed his love and dedication to the sport of football has produced many NFL players, including his current teammate Joe Haden. “With this area, a lot of people say it’s not a lot of football players that come out of here — but it is,” said Taylor. “We got a lot of talent here. We work hard. Just being from this area, there’s a lot of competition that a lot of people don’t really see. But it helped me out a lot.” 
At Gwynn Park High School, one of Phil Taylor’s biggest rival schools was Friendly where Joe Haden played QB (and every other skill position). Both players excelled at football with their respective schools. When asked what one of his most memorable games was in High School, Taylor mentioned a game against Friendly. “Probably the best game was my senior year we played Friendly and beat them 13-12,” he said. “It was one of the games we needed to go to the playoffs. So it was good.”
Phil Taylor was awarded a scholarship at Penn State University and subsequently Baylor University after a transfer. In other words, he played for two pretty brilliant coaches in the late Joe Paterno (PSU) and Art Briles (BU). “Playing for Joe [Paterno] was great,” Taylor said. “Just the type of coach he was — Hall of Fame coach and he was a great guy. But with Art Briles — they’re different coaches. Art Briles is more into it — Joe was older. Art is younger and it just seemed like he was more into it, enthusiastic — a player’s coach.”
In 2011, Phil Taylor was drafted 21 overall by the Browns and instantly became an impact player for the team. Unfortunately, Cleveland has been a revolving door for coaches and front office guys, having not won many games the past few seasons. Due to that, Phil Taylor’s aspirations for his team are simple, “just go out there and win some games.”
“We haven’t had the seasons we wanted the past years,” he said. “This year we had a better off-season, the guys are coming together — we’re just going to go out there and try to win some games.”
One of Cleveland’s biggest acquisitions this offseason was drafting QB Johnny Manziel. Many compare Manziel to Robert Griffin III — who was Phil Taylor’s QB at Baylor. When asked if there are truly any similarities, Taylor said, “they’re both amazing athletes — they can run the ball. So they’re similar in those ways. But Rob is a little taller — he’s different. They’re both young and in their prime. But with John, he just has to get the system right.”
The Browns are such a talented team — everything just has to fall into place. One thing is for sure, their defense is in good hands with two young studs from the DMV (DC, MD, VA) area — Phil Taylor and Joe Haden.
Phil Taylor is said to be humbled at the opportunity to assist youth in both Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, DC. Taylor immediately recognized the blessing of being drafted by a professional football team would afford him the opportunity to be a socially conscientious contributor to the communities that have touched him. His work has just begun and he’s already made an impact.
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